Taken by Her Prince

“I really mean it,” I said. “As far as I’m concerned, if I can get your father back, I can win this war in an afternoon. He’s the only thing holding me back now.”

She sucked in a breath and chewed on her cheek then picked up her mug and took a long sip.

“Okay,” she said, nodding her head, her hair bobbing up and down. “All right. I trust you.”

“Good.” I reached out and touched her knee. She took my hand and held it in her own then kissed my fingers. I looked at her and felt a pang of desire rocket through my chest at her wide eyes and pretty pink lips.

I wasn’t going to let her down. I’d already let too many people down, already got Davide killed, already let Colleen get shot. No more bullshit, no more mistakes moving forward. I wasn’t going to fail, and I wasn’t going to let anyone else get hurt.

No more fuck ups, no more mistakes.19ColleenAfter pointing out my uncle’s house to Steven, he dropped me off at his place and drove off. I lingered on his front porch and watched his car disappear down the street before heading back inside the house. I walked back into the kitchen, dumped my mug, then took my phone from my back pocket and stared at the screen.

I powered it on. Text and emails chimed. I ignored them and pulled up the phone app.

My father’s phone rang. I was surprised but kept myself under control. It rang and rang, and I knew it was about to click over to the familiar voicemail. He almost never answered on the first call, he was always leaving his phone somewhere out of reach where he couldn’t hear it or couldn’t get to it in time.

But instead, the phone clicked to life. I stood there dumbfounded as I heard someone at the other end.

Then my uncle’s voice came over the line.

“Colleen,” he said. “Or is this Steven?”

“It’s me,” I said.

He chuckled. My uncle, that bastard. Rage burst to life through my chest. My hand gripped the edge of the counter as my nostrils fared and my lips curled up into a snarl. I recognized that laugh, had heard it so many times as a girl growing up with the Club, but now it drove me wild with animal anger.

“What can I do for you, niece?” he asked.

“Let me father go,” I said. “That’s a start.”

He chuckled again. “I don’t think so.”

“Why did you take him?” I asked. “He got out. You let him out. You know we have nothing to do with any of this.”

“And yet you’re staying with Steven Bianco. Which is strange, since he’s been killing my boys.”

“I got shot,” I said, my voice a rabid snarl. “He took me in.” I touched the bandage on my shoulder. It still throbbed sometimes when I moved my arm too fast, but mostly I’d forgotten all about it.

“Sounds like a convenient story. Damsel in distress, saved by the gangster.”

“His people shot me. In that first hit, when he killed your dealers outside the bodega on twenty-second.”

He was quiet for a beat. “Interesting,” he said.

“I’m not involved with him,” I said. “You think I betrayed you, but I didn’t.”

He took a deep breath and let it out, the air cracking into the receiver. “All right, niece,” he said. “If that’s true, and I highly doubt that it is, then I suppose you’d be willing to do anything to get your father back, wouldn’t you?”

“You could just let him go right now,” I said.

“Oh, of course, but I won’t.” He breathed into the receiver. “I want you to do something for me. You will do something for me, niece?”

“What do you want?” I asked.

“I want you to listen,” he said. “That’s all. Just listen to what Steven Bianco is up to. He’s been quiet lately, but I know that won’t last. He’s been planning, hasn’t he?”

“Yes,” I said.

“I thought so.” He sighed. “Of course he is. I need you to listen, niece, and I need you to report to me what he says. If you can do that, if you can give me something useful, then I’ll consider letting your father go.”

“That’s all you want?” I asked. “Just information?”

“Just information.”

I stared down at the tile floor. My heart was beating fast and I felt a drop of sweat run down my back. I felt paralyzed, like I was trapped between two walls closing in against me on either side, threatening to crush me between their weight.

“Okay,” I said, and my voice sounded far away.

“Good,” he said. “I expect a message soon. Text me if that’s safer, but send me something in the next day or so. If that pans out, we’ll go from there.”

“I’m not… I’m not going to be your spy.”

“That’s exactly what you’ll do,” he said. “And if you don’t, I’ll make sure your father knows about it.”